


Pre-war Cyborg

by FreeFallGirl



Category: Fallout 4, ワンパンマン | One-Punch Man
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fallout, Characters are mostly cannon, M/M, Original Character(s), Slow Burn, Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-27 01:13:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6263638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreeFallGirl/pseuds/FreeFallGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Genos wakes up 200 years in the future in a world destroyed by war and body he doesn't recognize. Luckily he has someone strong to help him survive this harsh environment and to figure out what happened to him and his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Entering the Vault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been wanting to write a cross-over between the Fallout Universe and OPM. I think the two mesh well together and there's so much to explore. I apologize if updates are slow!

_*Beep Beep* *Beep Beep*_  
  
Genos cracked an eye open to look at his rocket ship alarm clock. 6:15 blinked back at him, flashing with the beeps of his alarm going off. He reached out and hit the button to turn it off, but rather than get out of his sleeping bag, he choose to just lay there, his arm stretching over the side onto the floor getting goose bumps from the slight chill in the air.  
  
He had been awake for a while now, but the weight of what the day had in store just made him feel heavy, not wanting to move. _‘What a crappy day,’_ he thought, starring as the numbers on his clock changed to 6:16.  
  
He heard some movement outside his door, the sound of small feet running down the hall towards the bathroom. His younger sister Penny was already up, and by the sound of it, she was ready for the day to start.  
  
Genos closed his eyes. _‘Maybe if I don’t get up, I won’t have to go.’_ He sighed, knowing there was no way his family would leave him behind. The government required all of his father’s immediate family to go with him to the vault. No exceptions. They didn’t say exactly what would happen if the rest of the family refused, but there were enough rumors about Vault Tech about some of the shady business they had done. Rumors were just rumors, there were no facts, but it was enough that Genos didn’t want to take the chances. It wasn’t right for them to be making a man and his family completely change their lives in such short notice. If only he was an adult, then he could do whatever he wanted. Being 15 sucked.  
  
Genos shifted in his sleeping bag, turning to look towards his bedroom door and the hallway light shining in from underneath. It used to be decorated with posters of his favorite comic book heroes, his favorite being Grognak the Barbarian. Now it was just barren wood, almost everything in his room packed up and sent off with the moving truck yesterday.  
  
Outside he listened to his parent’s bedroom door open down by the bathroom. “Morning mom!” his sister practically yelled. Out of everyone in his family, she was clearly the most excited for today. ‘She’s too young to realize what’s really happening.’  
  
“Good morning, my shinning star” his mother replied, “is your brother up?”  
“I heard his alarm go off, but he hasn’t come out yet.”  
  
Genos looked at the clock again. 6:23. He heard footsteps outside his room, and quickly pulled the covers over his head as his mom knocked quietly on the door.  
  
“Genos, are you up yet?” she asked through the door. When there wasn’t an answer, she slowly opened the door and peaked in. “Come on sweet heart, we have to get going so we get there on time. We don’t want to keep Dad waiting, now do we?” She walked into his room, and he heard a soft thump as she knelt on the floor by his head. He felt her stroke the top of his head over the blanket.  
  
It felt nice. It always did. Even though he was getting older and didn’t want his mom to coddle him all the time, he had to admit it helped with his nerves. He pulled the cover down a little bit, just exposing his eyes so that he could look at his mom. She was smiling sweetly at him, but her eyes held a sadness that wasn’t normally there. “Mom,” Genos whispered, “Do we really have to go?”  
  
She shifted a bit of the floor, getting more comfortable, and continued to stroke his golden hair. “It won’t be that bad. Your father will meet us once we get inside. He said we will each get our own room, with a living room and bathroom to share. There will be lots of other families and children to meet. I’m pretty sure the Cooks will be joining us next week. You know their son, so you won’t be by yourself.” She continued to stroke his hair, with a faint smile on her face. “There’s a school so you’ll be able to continue your education, plus I heard there will even be TV. That’s something we don’t even have here.”  
  
Genos turned his head away from her, frowning hard at his clock. She ruffled his head, hard enough for him to glare in annoyance, then leaned over and gave him a little kiss on the forehead. As she got up off the floor, she grabbed his blanket and pulled it off abruptly.  
  
“MOM!” Genos yelled at the sudden cold. He twisted around to grab it back, but his mom was already folding it up and placing it in the last box in his room.  
  
“We leave in a half hour, be ready to go please,” she said as she left his room, closing his door behind him.  
  
Genos sat up in his bed, and glared at his unrecognizable room. With the exception of his clock and today’s clothes, everything else had been packed up and shipped off. Feeling tired and upset, he changed out of his pajamas and put the rest of his stuff into his box. Turning to the sleeping bag he had been sleeping on, he rolled it up and tied it so it wouldn’t come undone. Putting in on top of the box, he opened his door and brought the rest of his belongings out of his room. He could hear his sister singing in her room and she finished packing her stuff as well. As far as Genos knew, none of his small group of friends were invited to move into the vault. There were a few kids he knew, but no one he was close with. Unlike him, his sister had a large group of friends, and knew her best friend Heather was moving into the vault three weeks after them. She wouldn’t be alone at all. How lucky.  
  
Walking out of the house, he put his box in the trunk of his mom’s car, and went back inside to get something to eat before they left. It was kinda a long drive, about 5 hours, and his mom had already said they wouldn’t be stopping to eat lunch. She had packed a snack bag to keep him and Penny tied over while she drove. He looked through what was available, but realized he didn’t have much of an appetite. Instead, he went back outside and walked around his house, enjoying the fresh air and the sounds of the birds chirping as they flew from one tree to another.  
  
‘After today, I won’t ever breath fresh air again.’ The thought made the back of his throat tighten, and he felt tears start to well in his eyes. ‘Just because they think there’s going to be a war, doesn’t mean there will be. How do we even know it’ll affect us here? Why do I have to be stuck underground for the rest of my life?’ He thought briefly of his father, who had been nominated as Overseer of Vault 90. It was all because he was too good at his job. His dad was one of the cities best mechanical engineers, with a focus on machines that cut and solder metal. As much as Genos loved his dad, a small bit of hate flooded him every time he thought of him now, but he knew it was hate that shouldn’t be directed at his dad. There honestly wasn’t much his dad could have done when offered the position. The gentleman who had shown up two months ago made it very clear this wasn’t a choice, enforced by the guards who accompanied him. They were holding real guns, shotguns he thought, something Genos had seen only on TV. The next closest thing he had ever seen was the occasional pistol a police officer carried, and that was no where near as intimidating as these guys had been.  
  
So now they were the first family to move in, hurray.  
  
Genos kicked a stone, sending it flying into the small woods they had behind their house. Birds flew up, making angry chirping noises at him. ‘Fuck you too birds.’ he thought as he turned and headed back towards the front his house. His mom was putting Penny’s last box into the trunk. She looked up as he came by.  
  
“Ready to go?” She gave a small smile, but the sadness in her eyes were still there. They were all forced into this.  
  
“No.” But he walked around and got into the front seat. His mom sighed, and went back into the house to check that they didn’t miss anything. Penny was already in the backseat, with a couple of her stuffed animals. A big fluffy one that looked like a bit of a German Shepard was in her lap. It was one dad had gotten for her when their dog Buddy had died last year. Even though it was a different breed than Buddy, Penny still treasured it with her whole heart and took it everywhere with her.  
  
She noticed him looking at her, and picked up stuffed animal Buddy, holding it in front of her head. “Genos!” She said in a cute gruff voice, trying to sound like an old man. “You should turn that frown upside down! It makes you look like you smell something bad.” She giggled, and reached Buddy out to simulate him licking Genos’s face. “It’ll be fun!” She said in her normal voice, pulling Buddy back and hugging onto him tightly. “I’m not worried, so you shouldn’t be either!” Her green eyes glowed with happiness as she smiled at him.  
  
He managed a small smile back, but didn’t say anything. His throat was still stinging, and he was worried that if he opened his mouth he would just right out cry. He felt pathetic. How was his sister this much stronger than him? Still feeling sick to his stomach, he was glad he didn’t eat anything.  
  
He saw his mom lock the front door. She paused, looking at the house before turning around and getting into the driver’s seat. They pulled out of the driveway slowly, all three of them giving their home one final look before speeding up down the road. Genos turned in his seat to stare at the house as it disappeared. ‘Will I remember what it looks like?’ he thought, when he could no longer see it. The burnt orange front door. The attached one car garage. A basement that sometimes flooded when it rained too much. The pale yellow siding. His window that looked out to the neighbors house with too many dead bugs stuck in the mesh. The roof that needed to be replaced. The scuff mark on the front of the house where he had kicked his soccer ball too hard. The mulberry tree in their backyard that he and Penny liked to climb and see who could get the highest.  
  
He turned in his seat and looked at the road in front of him. “Mom, if there is no war, will we be able to come back home?” He had asked this question many times and already knew the answer already.  
  
His mom didn’t say anything right away. “We have to be there for at least six years.” She said slowly. Genos felt a sharp pain in his chest. Six years… he would be 21 when he could finally leave.  
  
“Why so long?” he asked.  
  
“They said it’ll take at least a year to get all the families moved in, and then they estimated that the threat of the war would last at least 5 years.” It sounded like a good reason, but Genos could hear his mom was not happy with it either. Six years, stuck underground with a bunch of people he didn’t know, not being able to go outside to see the stars at night, or fishing during the summer. There would be no raking the leaves that covered the yard in the fall, or snowball fights with his sister in the winter. No puddles to jump in as the rain fell in the spring. None of that existed under the earth in the deep vault.  
  
Six years before they would be able to drive in a car again. He felt the tears start to fall, and did his best to hide it from his mom and sister. He didn’t want them to know how devastated he was by all of this. He heard his sister humming to the radio as they drive went on. Would she still hum after a year underground? He closed his eyes tight, trying to will the tears to go away. He didn’t want to find out.  
  
The drive went by a lot faster than he hoped it would as they traveled north. The landscape had changed from flat farm land growing corn and soybeans to a more hilly area with lot of pine trees. He had never been this far north before; no family lived this way. He was surprised by the amount of lakes he saw and the funny looking boats cruising on them. When they got out of the vault, he was going to take his sister and do that with her to celebrate. He thought back to when they can gone sailing on Lake Michigan with his aunt. He had gotten a bit sea-sick, but Penny had stood at the front the boat laughing as the wind took her red hair curls and whipped them around her head. Seagulls had flown around them following the boat and when they stopped to grill on the beach, she had taken her hotdog bun and threw it out for the seagulls to eat.  
  
He looked back at her. She was fast asleep, clutching Buddy to her. As much as he didn’t want to go himself, he felt even worse for his sister. Nine years younger than him, just starting first grade, his six year old sister wasn’t aware of what she was really losing when they moved into this vault. He just hoped the six years would go by quick. Twelve wasn’t so bad; she could still experience a lot before growing up.  
  
His mom took a road that led to a dirt path, driving farther into the woods. The trees were so thick here that he could barely see the sky through the canopy. After a couple of miles, they came to a big clearing where a large metal gate stopped them from going farther. At the direction of a guard, his mom stopped the car and put it in park. A couple of guards with guns came out of side door of the wall and approached the car. One went up to his mom’s window to her a few questions.  
  
“You the Hunter family?” he asked, holding up a clipboard with paper on it.  
“Yes, sir,” his mom replied, reaching into her purse and handing him an envelope. Genos assumed it had their badges that Vault Tech had given them. The man opened the envelope and pulled out the badges, looking them over and comparing them to the people inside the car.  
  
“Amber Hunter, age 38, born May 15 2038. Genos Hunter, age 15, born September 2 2061. Penelope Hunter, age 6, born June 27 2070. Is this all correct?”  
  
“Yes, sir,” his mom said again. Her voice was calm, but Genos could tell she was still nervous. The guard put the IDs back into the envelope and handed them to his mom.  
  
“Proceed inside.” He waved his hand, which signaled to someone else to open the gate. As the drove in, Genos noted the turrents on top of the wall. He shivered, a sudden fear taken over rather than the depression he had been experiencing for the majority of the day. Why did they need so much protection the middle of nowhere?  
  
They drove into an underground parking garage. Another worker gestured to where they should park, and they all got out of the vehicle.  
  
“You can all go inside those doors over there.” She pointed to double glass doors that looked to lead to an office. “A doctor needs to check you over, and make sure you aren’t bringing anything that could potentially be life threatening. In such close quarters, everything needs to be sanitized before you go in. We’ll start bringing your stuff inside to where you will live. After you meet with the doctor, you’ll go down the hall on your right to an elevator. It’ll take you to the lowest level and from there another worker will guide you through the vault entrance and to your room.” She gave Genos and Penny a big smile. “You guys will really like it down here. I’ve been living here for a couple of weeks. You’ll still be able to go outside during the day until the lock down the vault. We have a nice playground built in the back for you kids to enjoy.” Genos felt a little embarrassed, as he was taller than this women and didn’t like the way she was treating him like a little kid.  
  
He yelped when Penny pinched him. “No frowning! Remember!” He didn’t realize he was scowling. The women waved to Penny as the three of them walked towards the glass doors.  
  
When they went in, Genos felt the unsettling feeling he had felt outside disappear. It felt just like a regular doctor’s office. The receptionist looked up when they came in, and smiled, although she seemed less happy than the worker outside. “Welcome, please have a seat.” She gestured towards some chairs next to an aquarium. “I’ve already been informed of your arrival, Mrs. Hunter. We will have you guys looked over pretty quickly so you can start moving into your area downstairs.” She turned back to her computer screen and started typing. Genos took a seat in the corner, looking at the aquarium. An orange starfish clung to the top of the tank, slowly moving closer to the side. Penny was making faces at the clownfish that swam in and out of the coral, but was careful to not touch the glass. His mom picked up a magazine to read while they waited.  
  
“Mrs. Hunter, Genos and Penelope?” They all looked up to see a tall man with a close shaven head. Small tuffs of hair stuck out around his ears, pure white. He had large glasses hanging from a cord around his neck. “I’m Doctor Kennedy, you can all come back, we have a separate doctor for each of you.”  
  
“Yay!” Penny jumped up and ran towards the doctor. “Mom, it’s almost time to see dad! Quick, quick!” The doctor gave a small laugh, and pointed her towards a room on the right. “Doctor Webb is in there to see you. She specializes in child care, so she’ll take good care of you. Mrs. Hunter, you have Doctor Tucker, one door down from your daughter.” He turned to Genos “And you can follow me, young sir!” he said with another small smile. Genos watched as his family went into their rooms, following Doctor Kennedy. First he took Genos’s weight and height in the hall, then proceeded to the room on the left.  
  
“Did you have a good drive here?” Doctor Kennedy asked as he gestured for Genos to sit on the examination chair.  
  
“It was fine,” Genos replied. He didn’t really feel like talking to this doctor, he just wanted this over with. It would be nice to see his dad; it had been a week since he left to start Overseer training. The doctor gave him a long look at the short reply, but didn’t ask anything more.  
  
The doctor took out his stethoscope and put the buds in his ears. “No need to get undressed, I’m just doing a basic checkup. I’m going check your breathing first, okay? Just take deep breaths when I tell you to, and let them out slowly.” Genos complied. The doctor held the end of the stethoscope on top of Genos’s shirt, moving it every once in a while. After checking the front and back of his chest, the doctor got up to type some stuff into his computer by the counter. “You’ve got some good lungs! Do you play any sports?” he asked, trying to get a little more information about the boy.  
  
“I play soccer,” Genos said, then paused. “I played soccer. I can’t down here.”  
  
“Don’t worry about it, we have a fantastic gym that you’ll be able to run to your hearts content. Maybe you can start up a small soccer team yourself.” Doctor Kennedy smiled. He sat down at his desk, typing something into his computer. He looked up, studying Genos as he sat waiting for the doctor to finish up. “You seem relatively healthy, however I do need to give you a small shot.” He stood up, reaching into cabinets for a needle and a small bottle filled with a clear liquid. “Nothing bad, it’s something everyone who is coming to live in the vault gets.”  
  
Genos felt the uneasy feeling he had in the car come back. “Doesn’t my mom need to okay that or something?”  
  
“Everyone gets it. Can’t say no unfortunately.” He took a small swab with alcohol on it, and rubbed it on the top of Genos’s right arm. “It’ll only sting a bit, just count to three.” He said. Genos nodded, but as he looked at the doctor he felt his stomach tighten a bit. The doctor’s eyes were a steely blue, and although he was smiling to reassure Genos, he felt something off. He looked away when the doctor pushed the needle in and winced a little from the sharp stab. Then it was over.  
  
“My mom and sister are getting the shot as well?” Genos asked, rubbing his arm where the shot had gone it. It felt really sore, more than he remembered from other shots he had gotten in the past.  
  
“Yes,” the doctor replied, disposing the needle into a container on the wall, “Like I said, everyone who is coming in will get the shot.” The doctor turned back towards him, and Genos felt a shiver down his spine. He was still smiling, but the look in his eyes were not reasurring. “I’m very sorry Genos,” the doctor said, getting up and pushing Genos to lay down. Genos tried to get up, but found his body suddenly didn’t respond anymore. His arms felt more like noodles, and there was a strange numbness running through his whole body.  
  
“Vault Tech has you assigned to a decent doctor. I’m sure he’ll take good care of you,” the doctor said, looking over Genos. There was a weird eagerness in his face, his smile too wide.  
  
“Why….” Genos managed to make out, although his mouth was going numb now.  
  
“I couldn’t say no, just like how your family couldn’t.” The doctor held Genos hand, putting his fingers to find the pulse and keep track. “Vault Tech aren’t very nice people, Genos. Remember that if you survive.”  
  
Genos tried to answer, to tell the doctor that he wanted to go home, that Penny needed to leave, that his mom didn’t deserve this, but he couldn’t even open his mouth anymore. The room was blurry, getting more and more out of focus, and he fell into a coma with the doctor watching over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting and ending stories are always hard for me. I wanted to set up a little background for Genos, and give a little bit of info about his family. Comments and feedback are always welcome.


	2. Viper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, another chapter! Thanks to everyone who read and commented on the first chapter!   
> I should mention updates will probably be kinda slow...and I have no idea how long this will end up being. Once I get a few more chapters written I'll have a better idea.
> 
> Thank you again!

“Off the bed!”  
  
A steel toed boot came slammed into her stomach before she could react to the voice. The blanket wrapped around her was almost as thin as paper, and did nothing to soften the blow. Coughing and gripping her stomach, pain throbbing, Viper twisted around on the bed trying to get off, glaring at the man above her. “Fuck off,” she hissed at him, quickly getting to her feet and backing away and out of range before throwing the blanket onto the dirt-ridden floor. The man threw himself onto the bedroll, little tuffs of dirt and grim floating up from the impact.   
  
“Just get to the post before I shoot you.” He gripped the blanket off the floor and pulled it over him while kicking his boots off.  
  
Deciding against fighting the man, Viper picked up her torn jacket and sneakers in her arms and left the room. Her stomach still ached from the kick, although it was getting better. Probably nothing worse than a bruise and loss of pride. It was one among many on her body, fresh ones being added daily. It was to be expected, she guessed.   
  
Only two months ago she had been a slave, forced into hard labor working around the camp doing various jobs with only enough food and water to be kept alive. She had been sweet to the chief though, keeping in mind the words of wisdom from her parents. After a particularly hard raid that resulting in taking half the lives of the chief’s raiders, he decided he needed to grow his ranks again quickly. She had thrown herself at his feet, begging him to take her into his ranks. That she would be loyal and would work hard for his favor. After serving him as a slave for almost her whole life, she prayed that maybe he had a soft spot for her, and would let her join. He didn’t reply at all, and fearing the worse Viper left his room, hiding in a corner of her cage at night and keeping her head down while working, praying in her head that he wouldn’t have her killed. Rather, he came to her three days later, and took the explosive collar off her throat. “You have to prove yourself,” was all he said, putting a .22 pistol in her hand. He motioned his hand towards another raider, who went pale when he realized what was going to happen.  
  
“No!” He begged, looking Viper in the eyes. They were blue, his pupil’s dilated and sclera tinted red from Jet in his system. Yet she remember the fear in them, as other raiders kneeled him down so he couldn’t escape.  
  
“You’ve been stealing from me, Bull. You think I didn’t notice the caps missing, or the food and drugs disappearing from the loot we get?”  
  
“That…that wasn’t me!” Bull cried, trying desperately to convince the chief to spare his life. But instead the chief lifted his hand up, palm open towards Bull, and flicked his fingers down into his palm. It was a sign the camp had taken to realize meant one thing: Goodbye.  
  
Viper stood there, hands shaking as she held her gun up pointed at Bull’s head. In all honestly, she didn’t want to be a raider. She didn’t want to murder and steal. But she looked over into the pen where hey had kept her, and decided that she wanted to be a slave even less, and pulled the trigger.   
  
Although she had technically proven to the chief that she deserved to join, not everyone else in the camp agreed. She was pushed, shoved and kicked, often for no reason other than that she was there. She did her best, knowing which fights she could win and which ones to walk out on. This punishment was nothing compared to when she had been a slave for them. She had a bed to sleep on, and food and water basically whenever she wanted. Viper stayed away from the drugs, seeing how they turned the others jittery and jumping at shadows, seeing things that weren’t there. They died sometimes, overdosing with no one around them to care and take care of them. It wasn’t the life she wanted, and she wasn’t planning on staying here forever. Once she had a chance for true freedom, she would run.  
  
But for now, she was stuck here until that time came.  
  
The room that she and a few other raiders slept in were on the first floor next to the vault entrance. From bits and pieces she had picked up over the years, it was quite a large vault, but no one had managed to get beyond the second floors. She knew they were trying to dig farther into the ground to find a weak point in the wall, but they were only maybe a 100 meters down and there was no telling where the bottom of the vault would be. ‘It was useless’ she thought. Anything that would be down there would be dead or broken. But the chief seemed to know something most of them didn’t, and so they dug and tried to chip away something made to withstand nuclear bombs.  
  
She walked through the vault entrance, cold drafts of wind blowing in from outside. The sky was still dark, maybe an hour or two away from daybreak. Feeling a bit annoyed, she realized she had been woken up before it was her time to stand watch. Yet rather than go and make the man finish his shift, she started up the stairs to the walls that surround the building. Vines had grown over most of it, with parts crumbling, but overall it was a good solid wall, very difficult for anyone to get over. Spot lights had been set up in a few areas, running off power provided by the vault. There had been turrets here, but a few good thunderstorms, harsh winters, and curious animals had broken them.  
  
The job as watchman was easy enough. She simply had to walk around the wall with her gun, and make sure no one got in. With them being in the middle of a forest hundreds of miles away from any large city, it was rare for people to come by. Once in a while a Yao guan would check out the smell, but would run off after a few shots in its direction. The most common were stray dog packs looking for food. The chief refused to keep dogs, as it was too difficult to feed them and his followers in the winter, so they were killed for the small amount of food and hide they provided.   
  
Overall, it was an easy job, one that Viper preferred to do.   
  
She picked up the sniper rifle that had been left laying on the ground next to the stairs. Close by was a table with some ammo for the gun, so she put a few extra in her pocket. She felt a type of relief over being prepared, and they were useful in case she spotted some animals. Red squirrels were pretty common in the area. The size of a medium dog, they were quick to dash across the forest floor and up into trees. If they got too close, their large front teeth could easily puncture skin. But she liked shooting at them when they presented themselves. If she got one, it would be a great dinner for the group, plus she could make a new jacket, one that could stop this cold wind that blew right threw her current tattered jacket.  
  
Another soft breeze flew over the wall, making her shiver and hoping the sun would rise soon. Slinging the gun onto her back, she started pacing back and forth around the top of the wall. She hummed to herself softly, watching as the world around her slowly woke up and the sun rose. On the horizon, she could see the sky start to tint pink. Little birds started to awake in the trees around her, and their morning singing quickly woke everything else up.   
  
As the sun finally broke, she heard a faint rustling of leaves coming from the forest. Taking the gun off her back, she lifted the scope to her right eye, closing her left so that she could focus her sight. She scouted through the trees and underbrush, trying to make out what had made that sound. When nothing appeared after a minute, she put the gun back, and continued around the wall, now straining her ears to make out sounds behind the birds chirping. ‘It would be awesome to get a squirrel or a dog so early in the morning,’ she thought to herself, pausing to look out to a part of the forest where there wasn’t much underbrush. It lead up to the gate, so she assumed it used to be a road.  
  
Turning to continue, she paused, realizing she had seen something weird. Quickly glancing back towards the road, she saw what had made her pause.  
  
Still too dark to really tell, she thought it was in the shape of a person. What had made them stand out though, was the color of whatever they were wearing. Had they been in black or brown, she probably wouldn’t have ever noticed, their face covered in shadows. But the bright yellow was enough to stand out, even in this light.  
  
She kneeled to keep herself steady, and pulled up her gun. With the zoom, she could make out that it was a man, in what looked to be some full body yellow suit with a white cape attached. His skin was pale, in a way that made it seem as if he got little to no sun. His bald head also stood out, glinting in rays of sun as he walked slowly. As he made his way down the road, he walked threw a particularly large patch of light. Startled, she saw he wasn’t alone. At his side was another person, significantly smaller than him and hobbled over. Looking at their face, she felt a shiver down her spine. Viper had only heard stories of them, but never met one in real life. The ghoul’s coloring was pale as well, but in a deathly rotting way. Most of the skin had simply fallen away, leaving them with no nose or lips. In all honestly, she hadn’t believed that these people could be real. Who could possibly survive hundreds of years of radiation, dehydration and starvation with their sanity intact?  
  
She pulled back from her gun, unsure of what to do. Her orders were to kill any people on site. She had killed before, and she knew she could do it again. But…she still hesitated. They were clearly unarmed, at least they had no guns on them. Neither wore any kind of armor, and it didn’t even look like they had any stash with them. The ghoul fascinated her, a creature of fantasy suddenly come to life right in front her eyes. Curiosity over-came her, and she looked down the scope again to get a better look as they approached. In her mind, she had already decided she wouldn’t kill them. No one else would come out of the vault until noon. She could warn them to leave and nobody would ever know. Maybe even talk with them a bit, see if she could get information about where she was and what routes were best to take to the nearest city.  
  
Maybe…  
  
Maybe she could even leave with them.  
  
When she looked, only the ghoul was walking there now. The look on their face seemed to have darken, and they made a pointing gesture in her direction.  
  
“Mind putting that rifle down? My boss doesn’t really like having a barrel pointed at her.”  
  
Viper jumped, breath catching in her throat, and accidentally dropped her gun over the side of the wall. Next to her stood the bald man in what she thought was a radiation suit, the white cape blowing gently in the wind behind him, a pleasant smile on his face.  
  
“Oh, you didn’t have to drop it over the wall.” He scratched his head, studying her.  
  
Viper was frozen. Somehow, in a split second this man had run hundreds of feet to stand next to her. She hadn’t seen or heard him. How? How was that even possible?  
  
“Why aren’t you killing her?” The voice that echoed around them was ghastly, as if the ghoul had a harsh soar throat and had smoked for their whole life on top of it.   
  
The guy turned to look at them, annoyance crossing his face.  
  
“She put the gun down. Dropped it, actually.”  
  
“I don’t care! She’s a raider, kill her and be done with it.”   
  
Viper’s whole body started shaking. ‘Run’ was the only thought in her mind, yet she was still frozen in place. He didn’t seem threatening, but something, instinct, intuition, cosmic energy, whatever it was, was telling her he was dangerous. That he could kill her without a thought.  
  
“She’s just a kid! Look at her, she’s like twelve!” He turned to look back at her, the smile still on his face. In a softer voice so the ghoul couldn’t hear him, “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.”   
  
Viper looked into the man’s eyes, and felt herself relax instantly. She could tell, somehow, that this man could kill her very easily. Yet his eyes were kind, and she could see he was telling the truth.   
  
She got up from sitting on her knees slowly, staring at the guy. He was taller than her, but shorter than almost all the other men she knew in the raider camp. His eyes were a dark brown, he didn’t seem to have any facial hair with the exception of very thin eyebrows. His smile felt genuine. The radiation suit he was wearing was in good condition, hardly any scratches or stains.  
  
“What’s your name?” He picked his nose while waiting for the ghoul to catch up to them, who was now swearing at him.  
  
“Viper,” her voice was a whisper.  
  
“Well, that certainly sounds like a raider name. Is that your real name, or one they gave you?”  
  
“Umm…I guess it’s one they gave to me. I don’t remember anything else.”  
  
“Hmm…” He looked at a booger he had picked, then flicked it off in the direction of the ghoul.  
  
“I saw that you bastard!” The ghoul raged, now almost to the wall. They had a limp, Viper realized, which was probably the reason they were so hunched over.  
  
“What about you?” she asked him.  
  
“Hmm? What about me?”  
  
“Uh, what’s your name?”  
  
“Oh, you can just call me Saitama.” He picked at the wall now, playing with some of the vines that had grown over.  
  
“Sa…Saytimi?” What kind of name was that? She had never heard anything like it.  
  
“Sa-ta-ma,” he pronounced it slowly for her. “It’s Japanese, I guess that’s what my parent’s nationality was.”   
  
“Japanese?” Viper felt a new fear grow through her. The first person she met that wasn’t a raider and she didn’t know half the things he was saying. How would she ever live in a city if everyone was like this? What would it even be like? She felt so stupid.  
  
Saitama seemed to sense her unease, and patted her shoulder. “Hey, it’s cool. You wouldn’t know this stuff if you were stuck out here in the middle of a forest all by yourself, now would you?”  
  
“Stop chit chatting with her if you aren’t going to kill her.” The ghoul had made it past the wall, now looking at the vault entrance. “Kid, I need to get into the vault down below. And I’m guessing it’s filled with raiders. Any chance they are all brats like you?”  
  
“Uhh…” This whole thing was throwing her for a loop. These people, with no guns or armor, meant to come here specifically to this vault? “I uh…you should probably leave. Anybody else will try to kill you.”  
  
She heard Saitama sigh next to her, and she turned to look at him. He was frowning, staring at the vault.  
  
“Looks like you get to kill people anyway!” The ghoul’s laugh sounded more like a dog barking, and Viper realized she liked this ghoul about as much as the other raiders she lived with.  
  
“How many are there?” he asked her.  
  
She thought, trying to remember who had made it back from the last raid. “Like, 23 or 24. Something like that.”  
  
“Are any your family members, or friends? Anyone who will surrender?”  
  
He had a sad look on his face, and she could tell he really didn’t want to do this.  
  
“No, my family all died a long time ago. And I wouldn’t say any of them are my friends.” She paused, thinking. “I was a slave for them almost my whole life. They hit and kick me, even if I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m just the luckiest of the people they capture; they killed everyone else, including my mom.” He looked startled at first, then his face darkened. He clenched his fists.   
  
He didn’t need to know everything, she thought. Just enough to make him see them as monsters, that it would be okay to kill them. If he thought she was completely innocent, that was okay with her. He didn’t need to know she had begged to join them when giving the chance, or that she had killed someone to do it.   
  
She and the ghoul watched as he marched into the vault, cape billowing behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of an huge jump from the first chapter, sorry about that!
> 
> I really wanted to try to keep things kinda cannon, so after looking through fallout clothing apparel I thought the radiation suit (without the helmet) would be perfect for Saitama!


End file.
